Creativity and New Media

Attached is a screenshot from my Instagram feed. Within the photo is a picture of myself eating three cones of ice cream. In relation to what was currently trending, the final season 8 of Game of Thrones, I have decided to make my caption similar to the title of my favorite GOT character, Daenerys Targaryen. To match her long title, I decided to put my own twist on it by making it represent myself and the ice cream cones to be my three dragons. 

The original GOT title reads,  "Daenerys of the House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, The Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Queen of Meereen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Protector of the Realm, Lady Regent of the Seven Kingdoms, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons”

My take on that reads "Rebecca Edelstein of House Edelstein, First of Her name, The unburnt,  Queen of the Samples and First in line (at Costco), Khalessi of the Great Food, Breaker of Belts and Mother of Sprinkles. Game of Cones."

This simple yet obnoxious caption is one way I used a New Media platform,  Instagram, to foster my creativity by relating my post to a then hot topic of discussion, Game of Thrones.  

HW Creativity

New Media fosters creativity in many different ways including in marketing and advertising to consumers. Using these platforms allows for the companies to not only strive to match consumer needs but also promotes creativity with a particular campaign. The ideas are often driven by the medium and how the consumers use them. After experimenting with the new media platform, the company finds contextual ways to be relevant and can invite users to be part of the process in certain campaigns.
In Claire Miller's article "Twitter Serves up ideas from its followers" she states just how this process is beneficial to companies as "consumers often come up with ideas for products, and companies wait on the sidelines to see if they have mass appeal." By allowing consumers the freedom of using the platform in their own ways, the company notes what they should prioritize and how they can use a platform to their advantage. The developers of the new media constantly ask themselves "‘Why are people using this and how could we make that better?'" By doing so they're allowing themselves to explore the benefits of a platform and later use it to their advantage in a creative and innovative way.

Modeling Reality with Virtual Worlds

Virtual words are used to mimic reality. They are often used to show one's ideal version of life, if one would have a choice but also portrays scenarios that may or may not occur in reality. The advantages of this include the ability to gain experience in gaming or even training for certain programs such as military, psychological therapy or medical training. 

For example, Stephanie Simon in her article, "Avatar II: The Hospital" explains the many different uses medical professionals may use in virtual worlds. "In addition to the disaster drills, Second Life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills. Medical schools traditionally have run such exercises using computerized mannequins, which can be programmed to exhibit certain symptoms. But each mannequin costs about $65,000, so there may be just one for every 50 or 100 students." (Simon, 2010) This program not only saves money for the hospital but it also gives individuals the ability to practice as much as possible to perfect their skills. 

Some disadvantages include the fact that it isn't the most perfect representation of our current world. For programmers, it is a very time-consuming and difficult task to mimic. Some obstacles developers face when creating these include lag time, lack of acuity, overlooking basic laws of physics and better tracking systems. In "Virtual Classroom" by Guy Posey et al., the author describes both the positive and negative impacts VR has within a classroom. To discuss the cons, the author states how "Internet students are put at a disadvantage when it comes to networking and forming new relationships. Students can get to know each other over the net however it does not replace the bond that is formed from face-to-face meetings." (Posey et al.)

Virtual worlds foster creativity by allowing individuals to explore a new world, a world that has no strict rules and is safe. Players are given the chance to challenge themselves in new aspects that may influence their real lives so they can apply these skills to their work and everyday tasks. 

In my opinion, the future of virtual worlds will probably be more incorporated into our daily lives.  With the many advantages they hold, including within the medical, psychological and military fields, the future is likely to contain more of this as we as a society shift our reality into a virtual one.  

Blog about Twitter

Twitter and Blackboard are very different channels of communication. For starters, Blackboard discussion is only for CUNY students who are set in the class and allows students to center their focus on the subject topic. Posts on Blackboard are encouraged to be longer as opposed to twitter whose main criteria involve brief interactions of no more than 280 characters. Additionally, Twitter allows for a broader audience of interaction and engagement while blackboard discussions are centered on the students and their opinions. Within an in-class discussion, students are placed in a classroom setting where they each see others and interact in real-time and real life. The Twitter setting allows for outsider interaction which may broaden ideas of the students.  In the classroom setting, students are confined to learning from their current setting in comparison to endless sources of opinions on Twitter.

Social Networking Sites

The four social networking sites that I use the most are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Each site serves its own purpose but, overall, their common denominator is the communication and connection they bring to the world, bringing millions of people who share similar ideas, voices, and differences together.
From first glance alone, Facebook allows one to share what's on their mind in a "status", share and reposts items as pictures, videos, surveys and more. Additionally, Facebook allows "friends" to interact with what you post by commenting, resharing and chatting with each other. From my experience, I use Facebook to read articles, look at life updates from friends and cry about it later while I watch Netflix.
Twitter is an interaction done in short tweets. It allows for short engagement with what's happening in the world. Through hashtags, followers are able to follow the same stream and interact with each other and still remain on the same topic of interest. For me, I use twitter the least as it is often used more for celebrities or Politicians, however, it is a great way to share short daily thoughts and impressions.
Instagram is similar to Facebook in that it reconnects others with each other but with pictures and videos. Now, Instagram allows one to "live stream" bits of their day in order to increase follower engagement.  I use Instagram the most to catch up on my friend's lives, sharing memes, and to keep up with my favorite influencers.
Lastly, Snapchat is a popular messaging app that allows users to send short videos and pictures to one another in a maximum of 10 seconds and disappears forever. Additionally, with Snapchat, one is able to put these short videos and pictures for others to see by putting it in a "Story". With this, followers can see what the user is currently up to. Personally, I use Snapchat as another form of text messaging, as it is a fun new way of communication.

Blog Social Networking

Social Networking has allowed communities to gather together in a way that changes communication forever. Not only can we reconnect with old friends but there are new elements to social networking such as media sharing and social media marketing that allow businesses to promote their services via these outlets. 

According to Frank Langfitt's article, "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting", we alone are able to see how much of an impact the social networking tech has been able to increase our economy by interfering with the job market. With networks such as Linkedin, recruiting has become a significantly easier aspect for Human Resouce Departments. However, though there are many positive elements to it, Langfitt states that even though " Linkedin... can scout a group of job candidates in just half an hour...if he wants to develop a relationship with any of them...there is no substitute for a much older social networking tool: the telephone." 

Though it has significantly improved businesses and networking with others,  there are blurred lines within the privacy. In Rebecca GreenFeild's "Facebook Privacy Is So Confusing Even the Zuckerberg Family Photo Isn't Private", she explains how even the Zuckerberg family is not excluded from the fact that anyone can access all photos and other private information on the internet. This becomes a very high concern for many as now recruiters have easier access to personal information. By looking into anyone's profile, this may ultimately be the final deciding factor for talent recruiters.  With that being said, it is important to not hide anything online as "everything can be shared and re-shared these days." (Greenfield)

In my opinion, I believe that these concerns may increase in the future, for now, we are seeing more specific elements into our technology that ultimately eliminate all types of privacies. AI programs, for example, allow systems to memorize one's habits and patterns and uses them in a way that benefits businesses. Though it is very good for segmentation and statistics, it seems almost unethical to gather such specific details of an individual's life and use it for profit.